Why Blokus doth mock us...

If you have ever needed a distraction that caused the kettle to boil dry, and the cat to go unfed, the washing-up to pile in the sink, and dust to make swirly patterns on your furniture, why, friend, look no further than Blokus ®. No doubt the brainchild of a frustrated architect, somewhere, who failed to win a commission for a shopping mall, and is now laughing all the way to Prada, Blokus is the most enticing, brain-teasing, finger-twivelling outfit that anoraks (like me) ever did encounter.
On investigation (try Blokus.com) I discovered different levels and versions of the game; original Blokus, Blokus 3D and Blokus Trigon. Mine was Blokus Duo, where two players attempt to ‘block’ each other on a 14 x 14 square grid with variously shaped pieces orchestrated in miniature squares (domino, triomino, tetramino, pentamino). You must lay your pieces so that the corners of your colour – orange or purple – touch, but not the sides. The player who manages to lay down the most pieces, within the rules of the game, is the winner.
Blokus Duo is fun to play with an opponent, but even more fun to play alone, spending hour after hour pitting Orange against Purple – mentally, I was always on the side of Purple. Blokus has spawned conventions, championships, and many, many champions. You can even play it online – but perish that thought. I’ve said farewell to Blokus Duo. With an obsession like that, I would never put pen to paper again, ever…